


Ten Moments

by AurumCelest



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2018-12-16 01:17:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11818158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AurumCelest/pseuds/AurumCelest
Summary: Ten moments with your favorite ex-Legislator turned bouncer





	1. First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Hover over Ten's dialog for more fun

The first time you meet Ten he’s outside of Swerve, arms crossed and looking intimidating.  

You were going to celebrate with Skids after the events of Luna 1.  After the whole fiasco with the Chief Justice, Skids’ weird talk when he walked through the portal, the near death experiences (again), you had both agreed that a nice drink would be a good way to wrap everything up.  Thus the two of you were making your way over to Swerve’s.

You were both trying to figure out how Minimus Ambus puts on the Magnus Armor when you saw a flash of yellow at the corner of your vision.  You turned your attention away from Skids to examine it further and you froze.  A legislator.  There was no doubt about it.  That large frame combined with the lack of optics and grim mouth line could only mean one thing.  Fear immediately rocketed through you as you grabbed onto Skids and pulled him back, your mind trying to figure out if you should fight or run.

“Skids!”  You gasped as you tried to stop him,  “What’s a legislator doing on the ship?  I thought...”

“Oh, Ten?  Yeah, Swerve hired him as a bouncer,”  Skids allows himself to be pulled back as he looks  over at you.  Then he points at a sign right behind Ten.  ‘No Swords, No Guns, No Briefcase’

“I wonder if the briefcase part applies only to Brainstorm or all briefcases?”  Skids tilts his head as he ponders that thought.

You still had your reservation but, as Skids continues on forward, you had no real choice but to follow him.  He would never let you come to harm in any case, and no one else seemed to throw a fuss about it.  

You and Skids come to a stop right before Ten and at this point your fear must have been obvious because Skids took one look at you and put himself slightly in front of you to talk to Ten first.  Ten holds his hands out to Skids, and Skids pulls out a gun from his side and drops in onto the waiting hands.  Skids takes a step to the side and then Ten turns his full attention to you and he is looming.  There’s no other way to put it.  He’s a big mech and that combined with the dents and scratches that adorn his frame and the arrows that are still sticking out of him, it looks like he came back fresh from a battle, which he probably did.

He’s staring at you now, although how he stares when he has no discernable eyes is beyond you but he’s doing it.  He opens his mouth and you scoot a little closer to Skids.

“Ten.”

“I-I didn’t bring any weapons.”  You hope your voice isn’t shaking, but it might be because Skids gives your shoulder a squeeze as he guides you inside and Ten seems to shirk in on himself slightly as he steps away and lets you into the bar.

“He’s a nice guy, don’t let his appearance deter you,” is all Skids says as you both spot Trailbreaker and head over.

You throw one glance over your shoulder at Ten, and you notice he’s just standing there looking down at the ground with his shoulder slumped.  


	2. Apologies

It’s totally broken, you think to yourself as you hold the pieces of the figurine in your hands. You were trying to tidy up your habsuite a bit when you had taken a step back and bumped into the table. The table which was precariously overfilled with your belongings. When you had bumped into it a chain reaction was started with one item wobbling and nudging the one next to it until the figurine, balanced at the edge tipped over and fell onto the floor, cracking into pieces.

You picked it up and tried to put the pieces next to each other, as though they would magically refuse into one piece again. When that clearly didn’t work you heaved a sigh. It was a very delicate and intricate piece and, as such, only someone who knew what they were doing would be able to fix it. Anyone else who tried would risk breaking it further. Not really knowing what to do to fix it, you made your way over to Swerve in hopes one of your friends would have a good idea of how to fix it.

None of them did. 

A little put out but not really surprised, you were about to put it away when Trailcutter spilled his drink over Jackpot, who was drunk off his aft, and a brawl was about to break out so you made a clean break before you got pulled in somehow and got out of there, your trinket laying forgotten on the table.

The next day it was at the entryway to your habsuite, fixed and looking even better than before. It was definitely yours, you could tell by the bottom of the figurine where it was lightly scratched from being moved too many times, and in any case there’s no way someone had bought one or conveniently owned the same one and replace your broken one. That left the question of who had fixed it? You started going around asking, after all you had to at least say thank you.

Brainstorm shrugged and said he was in the business of making weapons not fixing toys.  
Perceptor didn’t even look at you as he denied even touching it.  
Skids and Nautica both shook their heads but they did admire the work done on it, turning it this way and that.  
Rung also shook his head, but he asked that if you found out who that you tell him so they could build model ships together.  
First Aid pointed you to Ratchet.  
Ratchet pointed you to Ten.  
Ten popped out of his vent when you knocked.

You showed him the figurine, the confused look on your face said all he needed to know. He hesitated a bit and slowly nodded that yes he did fix it for you.

You furrowed your eyebrows and a frown appeared on your face. You were confused as to why Ten of all bots would fix it, you hardly talked to him and you were still a bit scared of him. Also, he didn’t look like the type of bot who could fix something as fragile as your figurine.  
Ten must have taken your expression as displeasure because he shrunk in on himself, hands clasped in front of him as he stuttered out,

“Ten.”

He bowed his head low, shoulder slumped, and was about to climb back into vent, before you stopped him.

“Ten!”  
He paused and looked over his shoulder at you.  
“I appreciate that you fixed it but…” You paused trying to figure out how word what you were thinking without sounding too offensive.  
“I guess I’m just confused why you would help me is all. We’ve never really talked after all.”

Ten fidgets in place for a bit before he answers.

“Ten.”

You wait for a bit, hoping for more, before shaking your head sadly.  
“I’m sorry I don’t…” Your sentence gets cut off when Ten stands up to his full height and made himself look menacing. The stance he took was the one he usually used when he stands in front of Swerve and it instantly reminded you of your first meeting of him and you take a step back, before Ten reverts back to his meek posture looking down sadly at you. 

“Oh...Oh!” A rueful look appeared on your face. Poor guy, he felt that bad about it? You walked up to him and placed your hand on him, as high as you could reach.

“Thank you. Honestly. It looks even better than when I first bought it.”

Ten’s face turned a light shade of pink and he fidgeted again.

“T-Ten.”

You gave him a little pat with your hands and a thought came to you.

“Hey why don’t we hang out sometime, maybe after your shift is over?”

“Ten!”

You gave him a bright smile and Ten gives an excited bob of his head back at you.


	3. Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who left a comment or a kudos. I'm happy to know people like Ten.
> 
> I'll probably edit this chapter later.

And so after Ten's shift ends for the day (ending meaning that Swerve was closed up for the day since Ten doesn’t really have a shift) you find him standing at the junction that leads to your room or his, turning his head back and forth between the two choices. The poor bot looks like he’s about to fry his brain module from indecision. You consider sneaking up behind him to scare him but quickly abandon the thought, he is a bouncer after all and it probably wouldn't end well for you if you did that.

With that thought in mind you call out to him, and repress a chuckle when he whirls around so fast he almost trips on his own feet.

“Done for the day? Ready to go hang out?” You give him a smile and he responds with a very excited “Ten!” and a quick nod of his head.

“Great!” You stand there a moment and quickly come to the realization that...you don’t know what to do or where to go.  
It would be great to just go somewhere nice and quiet to just talk, but you don’t really understand him all that well (although you are getting a much better at interpreting him through his gestures and you can vaguely understanding what he’s trying to get at most of the time now). You consider maybe going to try to get your other friends and just go as a big group, but then you know that Ten would end up getting left out. You look at him and he looks back at you, fingers tapping lightly on his thighs as though he can't wait to get going. You can’t possibly do that to him.

Ten must have noticed your struggle because he tilts his head to the side and a very hesitant “Ten?” slips out.

You give him a sheepish smile in return. “Not really sure where to go buddy. Any suggestions?”  
He looks away from you and stares off into the distance in thought. A moments hesitation later, he motions for you to follow him and, not having any better idea, you do so.  
A turn here, a turn there, and you both end up in front of Hall 6. He enters through the door with you right behind him. A quick glance around and you realize it must be a screening room, a theater of sorts. There are a lot of seats facing the large screen that is hanging on the wall. It seems largely unused though, as you swipe a finger over a seat and examine the slight covering of dust that gathered on the tip.

Ten brushes off one of the seat, the one in the middle of the room so you don't have to strain your head upwards towards the screen, and motions for you to sit down. Once you do so, he shuffles off somewhere in the back without a word. Some clanging later and the screen comes to life to show...blackness. 

"Ten? You okay?" you twist in your seat to look at where he disappeared off to, "You need help buddy?" You hear a loud exhale of his vent, and seconds later a confident “Ten!” 

You wait a moment, looking at the screen, and then it bursts into color. "I'm not sure what you did, but it's working now,” you yell at him and when he comes back he gives a fist pump, which earns him a laugh from you.

He takes a seat next to you just as the opening sequence rolls. As the movie continues all the excitement from before seems to slowly seep out of him. He’s kind of slumped down now, and he’s hands are set on his lamp as he twiddles his thumbs. In fact he actually seems a little nervous and jittery, looking over at you every now and then, as though gauging your reaction. You give an internal sigh, he must be worried if you are enjoying the movie or not, he did choose it after all without asking you. You give him a fond smile when he isn’t paying attention.

The actors on screen make a particularly bad pun, but you laugh anyways. A cute scene happens and you awww at it. Someone gets hurt, you let out a gasp. Throughout the whole movie you give little comments here and there and midway through Ten has relax considerably. He hums when you make an insightful comment, his shoulder shake in silent laughter along with your more audible ones, and nods his head sagely when you point out the ridiculousness of the situation that is happening on screen. By the time the movie ends, you find that the movie was actually pretty entertaining.  
“That was a pretty good movie,” you jump off the seat and dust off your back as you wait for Ten to do the same. “Is that your favorite movie?” “Ten,” he gives a nod. 

”Well then, thanks, for sharing it with me.” You give him a friendly punch, and he gently bomps the top of your head in reply.


	4. Chapter 4

`I failed the Ambus Test’

You stare at those words, hastily spray painted onto Ten`s back if the dripping words were anything to go by, eyes wide in disbelief.  Disbelief that quickly changes to anger when the full significance of the statement hits.

Eyes narrowed and fist clenched, you walk up to Ten from behind.

“Ten,” you call out to him and he turns around in shock, not knowing you were there.  He takes one look at your face and looks down to the ground, shoulder slouch again in a familiar defeated stance.  He already knows why you’re angry.

“Who?”  You're not even looking at him in his optics, your glare directed at his midsection instead.  Already you’re plotting the demise of the bot who did this to your friend.

“Ten?” He says with a questioningly lilt at the end.  He tries to meet your eyes for a second before once again looking anywhere but you, as though the walls and ceiling were so interesting to him.

“Ten.  Don't play dumb with me.”

When he doesn't answer, your frown deepens.  There must have been a lot of anger on your face because he flinches slightly and takes a step back.  That action gives you pause, and you try to tone down your anger and let the glare drop.  He’s not the one you’re angry at, but it is hard to keep your outrage in check especially considering that the words on Ten’s back imply that he’s nothing but a big dumb bot.  You, more than anyone else on the ship, know that that isn’t true in the slightest.

In the short time that you’ve known Ten, the two of you have become quick friends.  Bonding over movies, crafts, and even just being in each other presences.  You two are always there for each other, and knowing that there are bots who are outright bullying him...well they won’t be for long as soon as you get to them.

“Ten, who did this to you?”  You soften your words in an attempt to coax the answer out of him, “Ten, you’re my friend and...I just...This isn’t right Ten.  You don’t deserve to be treated this way.  You deserve so much more.”

No answer.  He’s still not looking at you, but there’s a slight flush to his cheeks so you know he is listening.  He always gets embarrassed when you praise him.  Usually you would tease him lightly over that fact, but this time it only serves to add more fuel to the anger you can feel rising again.  You try your best to keep it from boiling over, but even you have your limits.

“Why are you protecting them?  Is it Whirl?”  You keep your words soft as you take a step towards him.

“Ten.” a step back for him accompanied by a quick shake of his head.

“Trailcutter?  Tailgate?  Jackpot?”  You can hear the irritation slowly leaking into your words again as you advance towards him, one step for every name.  

“Ten. Ten.”He retreats backwards for each step you take towards him.

“Riptide?  Mainframe?  Rodimus?”  Another three steps and you only stop because Ten’s back is already at the wall.

He is nervous.  The fidgeting fingers, the refusal to look anywhere but at you, the shifting of his weight on his feets, and he’s trying his damnest to blend into the wall with how hard he’s pressing against it.  For a brief moment you think about how funny it is that he, a bot that towers over you and who could probably toss you halfway across the ship, is scared of  you.  You also know he could escape right now if he really wanted to, you wouldn’t be able to stop him, but he isn’t.  It must be a funny scene to witness to any passersby.  The humor fades away though when you notice him glancing frequently at the door into the bar.  

The bar…

“Swerve,” you hiss as you whirl around and stomp your way towards the entrance.  You were going to give Swerve a piece of your mind, and maybe a piece of your fist in his face too if he doesn’t listen and then you were...in the air?  

Ten had picked you up, gently of course he wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he had hurt you, accidently or not.  No matter how gently he held you though his grip was still firm and try as you might to wiggle down he was not letting you go anywhere.

Eventually you gave up and hung limp in his grasp.

“Ten,” you sigh in disappointment as Ten slowly puts you down, but doesn’t quite let you go until he’s sure you’re not gonna run off on him.  When he is sure he lets you go and you turn to face him.

“Ten,” he says.  He kneels down to your level and runs the back of one finger across your cheek in affection and in apology for picking you up.

You look at the ground with a slight frown on your face.  You know Ten well enough now to know why he doesn’t want you to go confront Swerve.  Half the reason is that he doesn’t want you to get hurt, physically or socially.  Getting into a fight with Swerve would risk the possibility of getting banned from the bar, and he knows most of your friends go there to relax.  Getting banned would mean you wouldn’t be able to hang out with them as much anymore.

The other half is that, unfortunately, he is used to such treatment.  He’ll shrug it off, as he has all the other humiliating things that has been done to him.  It is this half that still has you tense, ready to tell anyone who messes with your friend to back off.  

“Ten,” and there’s so much sincerity in that one word that all the fight leaves you instantly and you rub your cheek against his finger.

“If you won’t let me fight for your honor, at least let me help you clean up.”

A deep rumble comes out of Ten as he picks you up again, to perch you on his shoulder.

“I could have totally kicked his aft you know.”

“Ten.”


End file.
